Reasources for Workplace Health, Safety and Risk Management in Australia

AS/NZS AS 4801 and ISO 45001 Update

by Dave Collins on November 1, 2015

AS/NZS AS 4801 and ISO 45001 Update

Standards Australia Committee for AS4801 has decided that the existing AS 4801 will not be updated until the new international standard, ISO 45001 is published in 2016.

ISO announced recently that a new committee has been formed – “ISO Committee ISO/PC 283 – Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems”. Their objective will be to develop and publish an international standard for Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) based on OHSAS 18001. This new standard will be known as ISO 45001.

The new standard will be aligned with the September 2015 published revised versions of ISO 14001 (Environment) and ISO 9001 (Quality).

With typical fear style discourse ISO say:

Over 6300 people die each day from work-related accidents or diseases – that’s nearly 2.3million every year.

The burden of occupational injuries and diseases is significant, both for employers and the wider economy, resulting in losses from early retirements, staff absence and rising insurance premiums.

To combat the problem, ISO is developing a new standard, ISO 45001 Occupational health and safety management systems – Requirements, that will help organizations reduce this burden by providing a framework to improve employee safety, reduce workplace risks and create better, safer working conditions, all over the world.